The Pan American Pigment Cell Conference (PASPCR Conference) is the only meeting in the United States devoted to a large spectrum of interest in the area of pigment cell biology. The PASPCR Conference brings together scientists interested in the development, growth, differentiation, function and malignant transformation of pigment cells. The 2000 PASPCR Conference represents 9th Pan American Meeting and will be held in College Station, Texas. Like other PASPCR Conferences, this meeting will select 120-150 participants from applications including senior and junior investigators, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and representatives from the industry. The goal of the 2000 PASPCR Conference is to bring to this meeting Keynote speakers and Lecturers selected for their novel and outstanding contributions in topics to be covered at the 2000 Conference. The specific aims of this proposal are: to obtain partial funding for travel support for Keynote and Session Speakers (Lecturers) and to provide travel support for a limited number of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and junior Faculty, for the 2000 Pigment Cell Conference. The Conference will consist of two Keynote Speakers and five Scientific Sessions that include: 1) Vertebrate Genetics and Pigmentation, 2) Making Sense of MITF, its multiple roles in Human and Mouse Disorders, 3) keratinocytes, 5) Signal Transduction, UV Irradiation and Pigmentation. In addition, one poster session will be included. Each of the aforementioned sessions will have two-three Invited Lecturers selected for their leadership in the different topics of the Conference, followed by oral presentations selected from the submitted abstracts. The inclusion of Invited Lecturers, which will be a new addition to the PASPCR Conference, has been successfully used in other national meetings to foster discussions by participants and world-known researchers. This will also help to ensure the inclusion of women and minorities as primary participants.